Is it Time to Quit Indicators and Turn to Forex Price Action?

If a survey was handed out to retail Forex and Futures traders and one of the questions that was asked was “what method or system did they first trade with”, without a doubt the huge majority of traders would say they started with indicators such as moving averages, stochastic, MACD, Bollinger Bands and the list of goes on and on.

I am super lucky that I get to talk and help traders with their trading goals every day, and the list of systems and methods that I come across with indicators is endless. You only have to look in any Forex forum to see how many new traders are clambering all over the “Forex Systems” threads looking for the latest indicators and EA’s because people come up with new indicator systems every chance they get (not necessarily a profitable ones).

The reason indicators are so popular is that they feed into the new trader’s belief that the indicator can help predict where price is going to go. To understand indicators properly traders need to understand how indicators are built and project their information. 99% of all indicators are built using old price information to make a lagging indicator. For example; a moving average is built using old price to make a moving line that traders can use in a number of ways.

The major problem with indicators is that they are always lagging and traders are using previous information to guide them. In other words; they are using lagging information to make live trading calls.

A Dangerous Trading Mindset

The other major worry with indicators is that traders very rarely stop at one indicator and this is often where things begin to go pair shaped in the trader’s mindset. A new trader will often have one or two winners with their first indicator. It does not matter how many losses the trader has or even if they blow their whole account. What the trader will tend to remember is that first indicator helped them make a winning trade and most of all the trader will remember that this first indicator helped them predict correctly where price was going. All the bad thoughts and losses have been completely pushed to the side because the trader has already moved onto what is coming next and they have already worked out EXACTLY how they will make it all back and much more.

The trader will often think “if one indicator helped me make a winning trade, then two indicators is sure to help me predict where price is going even better”, and then when two doesn’t help, three has to be even better etc, but the problem is that like so many things in trading it simply just doesn’t work this way as I explain below. Humans in everyday life are programmed to think that anything worthwhile cannot be simple and new traders often spend a lot of their time trying to make trading complicated adding fancy indicators to their trading thinking that the more indicators they add, the more they will be able to predict where price will go, but this is the COMPLETE opposite of what traders need to do.

This mindset is a trap that is very easy to fall into because the trader can quickly find themselves adding more and more indicators as they start having more and more losses with the incorrect mindset that indicators will help them predict where price is going. What ends up happening is the trader go’s from the start of their trading journey being in the best mindset to play trades, to having so many indicators on their charts and being in a complete mess and state of analysis paralysis. The trader ends up having so many indicators on their charts that they all end up contradicting each other and the trader can no longer make a trade because they are so confused at what they should do. So what does the trader need to do?

Time to Move to Price Action

The most simple and uncomplicated trading method in the world is price action. All that is needed for trading price action is a blank raw price action chart and your trading method. The major difference between indicators and price action is; with indicators you are using old lagging price action information to try to predict the future, but with price action you are continually reading the raw and live price as it is being printed on the chart.

There are no indicators or outside influences at all used to trade price action. Basically price action trading is the skill of being able to read the price and make trades on any chart, in any market, in any time frame and without the use of any indicators at all. Below are two charts side by side with the price action chart on the left with just raw price action and the chart full of indicators on the right hand side.

Education and commitment are needed to be successful with price action trading just like any other trading methods or systems that are worthwhile, but the reason price action trading is so successful and so many professional traders use it is because it simplifies the trading process and the mindset required to be profitable.

Johnathon Fox is a professional Forex and Futures trader who also tutors and mentors aspiring traders worldwide. Johnathon teaches a very useful method of Price Action trading and has a knack for helping traders become consistently profitable.

1
Comments

Thank you for this valuable piece of information. This backs up what I learned from my mentors. I haven't personally got too far into indicators and will continue to avoid by taking this advice also, I now need to learn a little more about price action. I would like to see the comparison charts and these are not visible as it suggests.

gemair
January, 2014

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Risk Disclaimer: DailyForex will not be held liable for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on the information contained within this website including market news, analysis, trading signals and Forex broker reviews. The data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate, and analyses are the opinions of the author and do not represent the recommendations of DailyForex or its employees. Currency trading on margin involves high risk, and is not suitable for all investors. As a leveraged product losses are able to exceed initial deposits and capital is at risk. Before deciding to trade Forex or any other financial instrument you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite. We work hard to offer you valuable information about all of the brokers that we review. In order to provide you with this free service we receive advertising fees from brokers, including some of those listed within our rankings and on this page. While we do our utmost to ensure that all our data is up-to-date, we encourage you to verify our information with the broker directly.